While the world learned the news of the widespread assault on Israel by Hamas over the weekend, the riders of the Israel-Premier Tech team have been trying to process the horrifying events while focussing on the races.
The news of the coordinated attacks from the Palestinian resistance/terrorist group that killed at least 1,000 and wounded more than 2,800 overshadowed the stunning victory by American Riley Sheehan at Paris-Tours. Amid the tragedy, the team "largely suspended" their social media activity. On Tuesday, the team shared the reaction from riders.
Nadav Raisberg, who is graduating from the Israel-Premier Tech development squad to the WorldTour team next year, was on the Paris-Tours roster and learned of the events less than a day before the race.
"The first thought was that I couldn't race," Raisberg said. "How can one even think about a bicycle race when I am receiving messages about friends fighting there to put an end to this unspeakable slaughter? But after a heart-to-heart with my family, I resolved that breaking down was not an option.
"In the end, we clinched victory with the remarkable Riley Sheehan, and my teammates rejoiced rightfully, it was a tremendous achievement. But I couldn't join in; I couldn't celebrate with them."
Israel national champion Itamar Einhorn was at the Tour of Hainan when he learned of the unfolding events. He sprinted to second place on the final stage, and his teammate Sebastian Berwick came second overall to Oscar Sevilla, but Einhorn also couldn't celebrate as he was tormented by the news.
"I've never felt like this before," Einhorn said. "Of course, I wanted to win. But I didn't feel anything. There was neither the sting of missing the victory nor a trace of satisfaction from finishing second. The utter sense of triviality weighed heavily on me, knowing that while I raced thousands of kilometres away, my homeland was engulfed in a horrific act of terror and slaughter.
"You're in a race. You're supposed to disconnect from everything, but how is it possible? It's a storm of emotions that you don't want to, nor can you, escape. I am shattered, but the images from one of the videos that turned my stomach keep haunting me: two children whose parents were murdered before their eyes, and the terrorists leaving a red smear on the walls declaring 'we don't kill children' – while in other houses they executed bound children.
"And I keep riding, tears overwhelming me. I wonder how this can happen, how much evil and barbarism can be the act of a human being. Then I shake myself and return to the race as the peloton returns to full gas. Until the next moment when things calm down a bit, and I am caught by these horrifying images again."
Back home, another team member, Guy Sagiv and his partner Omer Shapira, who rides for the EF-Education-TIBCO team, were at her family home in Ein HaBesor near the Gaza border but decided to spend the weekend elsewhere, a decision that might have saved their lives.
"We set out for training on Saturday morning just as the grim news from the south began pouring in," Sagiv recalled. According to the team press release, the residents of Ein HaBesor were invaded by assailants but were able to fend them off. "We were told about the many pairs of bicycles found on the surrounding roads; the fate of their riders still unknown. We know a miracle saved us, but I can't stop thinking about riders like us who went out for morning training only to be cold-bloodedly murdered and about the hundreds of children and young individuals slaughtered mercilessly. Sometimes, I feel like I'm living in a nightmarish dream, hoping someone will wake me up from it."
A 15-year-old member of a cycling club in western Negev, Itai Cohen, was among those ambushed by Hamas fighters while on a training ride. He suffered cuts from shrapnel and had to have surgery on his eye.
Since the weekend, Israel has retaliated with airstrikes, killing 765 in Gaza and wounding 4,000, shutting down the border crossing with Egypt. The Israeli defense minister promised a siege of the Gaza Strip on Monday - shutting down sources of electricity, food and fuel to an area with 2 million residents, an act the U.N. high commissioner for human rights declared was a violation of international law.
